Love Can't Change The Weather
by MaidenStar
Summary: It's true that love can't pay the bills or stop the rain from falling, but when it's pouring down outside, it's her colours indoors that keep him smiling. He just has to pluck up the courage to tell her so. Pure fluff. Threeshot set just pre-OotP.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hi everyone. It's me again. I bet you're sick of seeing me around here. Anyway, it's morally wrong of me to do this seeing as I should be revising and/or updating 'Lupus Fortis'. But that one's a bit angsty so I'm going for a bit of fluff. That is pretty much all this is. Remus/Tonks not quite together but sort of both trying to get there while Sirius tries to be encouraging. Quite a lot of Remus/Sirius friendship too, because I love writing that. **

**This was going to be a oneshot. Not I'm pretty sure it'll be a threeshot all set on the same night. But then again, it could turn out longer. I just never know. Anyway, that's all for now. **

**Hope you enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own 'em, J.K. Rowling does. The title and quotes comes from a Five For Fighting song of the same name. I don't own that either.**

Love Can't Change The Weather

"_Love can't change the weather,  
>She says I'm out of my mind, over my head.<br>Love can't change the weather,  
>But I'll be holding you when the rain walks in."<br>_

Chapter 1:

Remus drummed his fingers on the table in a perfect echo of the rain drum-drumming outside, rattling the thin window pain of Grimmauld Place and making him glad he was inside. He didn't fancy getting drenched out on patrol as he was sure Kingsley and Hestia would be, right at this minute.

Having said that, this unexpected downpour of summer rain was a welcome interlude from the scorching heat they had all become accustomed to. Even Grimmauld Place, which normally remained obstinately chilly both in temperature and in atmosphere, had succumbed. In fact, it had been _overbearingly _hot these past few weeks. A delight for all the school children who had time off school for the summer, although Remus could think of one teenage boy wouldn't have too much to smile about. Though, if all went to plan, he would be out of Surrey in a week or two.

He mused idly over the plans Moody had scrawled down for everyone who was to be in the Advance Guard to study meticulously. It was just that his scratchings were extremely difficult to read.

He rose out of the armchair and padded to the window where a small chink of light filtered through. To say that the ancient house had yielded to the heat did not mean it had held its grimy hands up in surrender to his and Sirius' best cleaning efforts. Even Molly had to admit they were taking one step forward and then three steps back. A decade of dirt, dust and decay was hard to shift and Remus, and the rest of the house's inhabitants – be they fleeting or permanent – had to put up with a limited amount of daylight in nearly every room. Rather ironically, the best lit room in the house was Buckbeak's and no-one ever went in there because of the ever-growing pile of dead rat remnants. And that was not taking into account the highly strung, easily offended Hippogriff...and his lord and master. Sirius had been growing ever more sullen as the days went by and Remus often mused that he had probably been more cheerful in Azkaban than he was here. Maybe he really should consider making a permanent change into his four-legged, stick-chasing, tail-wagging alter ego. He really was a Prima Donna. Always had been, ever since Hogwarts.

Remus frowned and then squinted, the illumination in the living room was no better than the rest of the house, ivy had begun growing up the exterior walls and seemed to have a mind to engulf the already grime-smeared window. He had to concede, there really was no reading these instructions from Moody.

Wasn't it meant to be Healers whose writing was illegible?

He would have to ask Tonks the next time he saw her, maybe she could decipher for him.

Tonks. His mind instantly faltered. Nymphadora Tonks: the smiling, kind-hearted, pink-haired witch that had altogether pinched his heart without any semblance of his permission. Immediately he felt the omnipresent prickly summer heat creep further up his neck and circle round his cheeks and turn into a warmth that had nothing to do with the time of year.

Only _she_ had this effect on him – she turned him into the awkward, bumbling, blushing school-boy who had blundered through a series of mortifying first dates and first kisses and first dances. Sirius and James hadn't helped all that much either.

But, he hadn't felt like that for years.

More years than he cared to acknowledge in fact.

A bead of sweat trickled down his throat and still the rain pounded. In spite of the weather he opened the window.

Outside, the summer rain could be smelt in the air. It smelt of warmth and tarmac and damp. Pleasant, but infuriatingly indescribable.

He loved all the sights and smells of summer – the feelings it gave you, but they also saddened him greatly, as memories of every summer break of his youth filtered back to him. Time spent with James, Sirius, Peter and, as time went by, Lily at his family home – a large country house in a time-forgotten village. Both were situated conveniently near a tree and weed-dense copse, perfect to accommodate his monthly transformations. The Lupin family had moved there when he was six, after he had been bitten. It all just leant itself perfectly to Remus' condition: small, Muggle population who never asked questions or wandered around the copse at night, open spaces, few or no tourists likely to wonder across Remus' werewolf self during a full moon. Yes, it was picturesque and the ultimate British-postcard stereotype; with its quiet little beach a ten-minute walk away, although above all, it was practical. But it was the only home Remus could remember. He loved it there.

"If I didn't know you better, Remus, I'd say you were being a sentimental old fool," came a voice from the doorway, one that was altogether at home in these particular memories. He shut the window and turned around and as his eyes re-accustomed themselves to the gloom he picked out the dark, tamed-but-still-long-enough-to-be-considered-straggly hair of his last remaining childhood friend.

"Just thinking about the good days," he admitted with a wistful smile and saw his expression mirrored on Sirius' face. "And trying to decode this," he said, motioning to Mad-Eye's parchment scrap.

"What, this?" Sirius, who had sat down in Remus' recently-vacated armchair, pulled one of the parchment's many brothers from his pocket. "Yeah, he gave me one too, seemed to think if I couldn't join the guard I'd at least like to know what's going on with my own Godson," he sounded more than a little bitter and angry. "You're fighting a losing battle there, mate. Only word I could make out was 'vigilance', no joke. There, look," he pointed it out to Remus and the latter snorted, swiping his fringe out of his eyes. It really was time to accept Molly's offer of a haircut.

"D'you think it's all one of Moody's safety devices? Illegible handwriting, that is. Make sure a Death Eater couldn't read it if it got intercepted or the like," Remus asked as he gingerly sat down on another armchair, one that was less commonly used. Experience had taught him that things could still jump out and ambush you if you didn't have your wits about you.

"Good theory," Sirius agreed, thinking about it before nodding decisively. "You could be right about that one, Moony. We'll have to ask Tonks when she pops by tonight, she'll most likely know," he added and Remus saw Sirius' delight in having a relative who actually _wanted_ to 'pop by' and see him. One that didn't think he was the scum of the earth. The sentiment was written into his sunken features, although this in itself was something about Sirius that seemed to be changing – as each day went by he looked increasingly healthy, while Remus suspected that he himself looked more and more drawn.

"I thought of that too," he said in reply, to which he was rewarded with one of Sirius' customary bark-like laughs.

"Mm, I bet you'd thought of that, you sly old man."

Remus felt the heat spreading up to his cheeks. He hadn't divulged anything of his feelings towards Tonks to Sirius but his time in Azkaban had only served to heighten those already sharpened senses of perception. Interfering old sod.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Remus thought it was best to play ignorant. Agreeing was out of the question, unless in a sarcastic manner, and back at Hogwarts silence had only ever confirmed any suspicions James and Sirius had, regardless of their actual accuracy. Although Remus had always thought it was a toss up between what was more infuriating: them guessing you had taken a fancy to someone and being correct (nothing ever stayed secret for long and so you had to admit everything and be teased to death for it) or them guessing and being completely off the mark and Remus – and often Peter – having to endure weeks of endless taunts and jokes about something that wasn't even relevant.

"Tonks, of course," Sirius said, his tone matter-of-fact. "Don't think I haven't noticed the way you are around her – I am in this house twenty-four seven, don't forget. Nothing about anyone in the Order escapes my notice, least of all the business of my oldest friend." He was wearing an annoyingly superior smile.

Oh bugger it all. Had he really been that obvious? True, he and Tonks flirted a lot, but it was harmless teasing. Well, to her anyway. She'd never look at him twice of course, not as anything more than a good friend. But still, there was nothing in anything he said that could have given him away, not like when he was at school.

"Really Sirius, I don't where you're getting your ideas from recently but if you don't mind me saying, with all due respect mate, you're really losing your touch. In fact, James would be positively ashamed of you because that's frankly a load of boll-"

"Don't pull that one Moony. I've seen the way you look at her. And Merlin, I've seen the way she looks back. Girl's infatuated with you. Don't think she's round here half her life just for my benefit,"

What? What? Could he really be...? _Oh shut up Remus you old fool. Young, beautiful girl in her twenties, look at you? Don't be an arse._

"I can't really speak for Tonks, but looking objectively at myself, it's hard to see -"

"Well there's no accounting for taste, Moony," Sirius said, biting back a sardonic grin.

"You're a sarcastic old prat, you know that don't you?"

"Pride myself upon it,"

"Well you're wrong. Because, although I think that she's a lovely young woman she is nothing more, or indeed less, than a very valued friend."

"Rubbish, you're like a schoolboy again. I'm rarely wrong about you, Remus -"

"Ah, but let's not forget the times that you _were_ wrong, shall we?" Remus began ominously and the look on Sirius' face told him that he would rather those times stayed dead and buried.

"Remember Violet Arnold in the year below?"

"Yes, and I'm still eternally sorry for that, mate – you know I am,"

"You and James thought I acted strangely around her because I was harbouring some sort of crush on her but it was because she wouldn't leave me alone, I'd turn a corner and she'd be there, eyes wide, staring up at me, not saying anything – just staring. And you thought I was looking at her all the time in the common room because I fancied her – I was unnerved by the whole thing; she never took her eyes off me."

"I think you can take that as a magnificent compliment then, can't you?"

"She sent me a singing valentine that documented our whole lives together. Including the names of our seven children – including Derek, Deirdre and Damian the triplets. No teenage boy in his right mind is going to be impressed by that!"

"Yes, well, she was rather a sweet girl."

"But I told you a million times that I didn't fancy her and gave you numerous reasons as to why!"

"Well looking back it's all very clear, but you were a bit subtle at the time."

"I shouted it at you across the common room one Sunday afternoon," Remus said blankly. "But oh no, you had to go telling her I liked her as much as she liked me, setting us up because you thought I was too shy to tell her myself. I couldn't get rid of her for a month."

"I'm sure it wasn't that long Moony,"

"It was a month, I can work it out by the transformations, Sirius. I have never seen a girl cry so much. Ever. And when she went straight to McGonagall telling her I lead her on – I got into serious trouble for that. I had to do detentions with Filch for two weeks! All because of you and your meddling."

"Yes, I won't deny that did backfire on me a bit," Sirius admitted with a sheepish smile.

"Backfire on _you, _a _bit_? And what about the time you tried to set up Peter and that Slytherin girl, now what was her name? Gaynor Greenwood, that's it!"

"Well it could have been worse," Sirius replied bashfully. "I may have misread the signals a bit _there_ but -"

"Sirius, the poor boy was _scared_ of her. She was about six foot seven and in her final year. Never known anyone so proficient at the jelly legs curse, and there's no use pretending that was the 'first bloom of young love' or however you put it. I've never seen anybody so thoroughly hexed."

"Mm, true. But then, that wasn't half as bad as when she followed up with the Waddiwasi on him and that Satsuma got wedged up his –"

"Yes Sirius, thanks for reminding me, I was going to gloss over that part,"

"Ah but, there's no glossing over _that_ is there? I must say, Madam Pomfrey was ever so good over the years, rarely ever blinked an eye at any of the messes we got ourselves – or others for that matter – into. In fact, I think that was the one and only time I can remember that she lost control over herself a little. Tried to pretend she wasn't laughing, but I could see her shaking as she bent down to get something out of a drawer."

"Yes I rather think that I couldn't keep _myself_ from grinning either at that point."

"Peter wasn't laughing though. He couldn't sit down for at least a week."

"Oh be fair Sirius, it was at least two."

They both laughed heartily and Remus took his chance.

"Yes, so just remember what your meddling can do to people, particularly when all your little suspicions are unfounded," he warned, eyes narrowed.

Sirius held his hands up in surrender.

"Okay, okay, you win this time. But I still reckon I'm onto something, I'll be quietly observing from now on."

Remus would just have to remind himself to be more careful whenever Inspector Black was around.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hello everyone. I'm so sorry for the delay in updating. I never would have imagined it would have taken this long to update but A Levels got majorly in my way. As did Deathly Hallows Pt. 2 which I've just seen. It was incredible!**

**I hope this was worth the wait, and thank you so much to people who had read the first chapter and thank you to Eva for the review. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or the settings. Wish I owned Remus Lupin though, hnnng, just think... **

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><p><span>Chapter 2:<span>

"So after that incident, Moody's never written a legible note again," Tonks concluded with a small, resounding laugh. "In fact, it's actually a minor Auror test, reading his writing, so you get used to it eventually," she grinned, taking a sip of tea.

She had in fact, rewritten the note in a few minutes, copying her own version with a quick wave of her wand, giving it to Sirius. Remus now had her original clutched in his right hand, her surprisingly neat, even writing making altogether more legible tracks across the page.

Remus was acutely aware that throughout her entire monologue he had said little, not made eye contact with her and had not even laughed as freely or heartily as he normally would.

He was over compensating and he knew it. Sirius knew it too. He was grinning like a fool in his direction while his dark eyes darted from Remus to Tonks and back again.

With a particularly pointed look and something that could only be described as a Thespian flourish, he rose from his chair and asked innocently,

"More tea?" and swept away all three teacups away before anyone could refuse. A moment later and he had disappeared from the room, not before making a few vulgar gestures behind Tonks' back. Remus suppressed a shudder. Tonks was Sirius' cousin for Merlin's sake – surely he could have a bit more refinement than that. But then again, thinking about it, maybe not. Remus was forcibly reminded of the Muggle book his mother used to read him, about a girl who fell down a rabbit hole and into a different world. At some point during her adventure, she had a tea party with a Mad Hatter, a March Hare and a dormouse. This was their own mad tea party, and Sirius could be anyone of those characters right now, including the Cheshire Cat who frequently cropped up.

"So Remus, we haven't spoken in a while," Tonks stated with what Remus recognised with a happy jolt as a guilty, apologetic grin. "How have you been?" she asked and Remus took the opportunity to act as he normally did around her. Free and unguarded and himself.

"Not too bad, I've not had a lot to do. Not much I can do, is there? Not until we go and get Harry."

"It's bad, but I'm sort of looking forward to that in a way," she admitted sheepishly looking intently at him through her customary bubblegum pink fringe with intense eyes that were as dark as Sirius'. "I shouldn't be looking forward to something so serious it's just, I can't believe I'm going to meet Harry Potter!" she murmured, eyes widening a bit in awe. "Mad-Eye would kill me if he knew I was so excited. It's entirely un-vigilant of me."

"Everyone that's yet to meet Harry is the same, Nymphadora. You're just honest enough to admit it," he reassured her and she nodded.

"Don't call –" she began but he chuckled and cut her off,

"– you Nymphadora," he finished. "I know. But I can't seem to call you Tonks. It's too impersonal," he added, thinking that it would be a little too personal to start calling her 'Dora as he did when he imagined conversations with her in his head or when she cropped up in his dreams (which was becoming more and more frequent).

They looked at each other in comfortable silence for a moment.

"Hmm," she agreed eventually. "And I can't seem to care enough to force you to call me Tonks. You'd better not introduce me to Harry as Nymphadora though, or I'll hex you. That's a promise Lupin," she joked with her most mischievous smile painted delicately on her face.

He laughed lightly, revelling in her presence and her light. It might still be raining outside, but her colours indoors made it feel as though the sun was shining down on him.

Just as he felt himself relaxing into conversation with Tonks, as though his secret feelings were safe, he caught a glimpse of Sirius peeking around the door mouthing, 'get in there mate, she's obviously up for it!' Remus rolled his eyes but otherwise ignored him.

"What?" Tonks asked, bemused at his gesture and turning round to look at the empty spot that Sirius had occupied a second earlier.

"Oh, nothing," he replied hastily, keen to avoid her thinking he was directing the eye-rolling at her.

She began to get up from the sofa, where she had been sat, feet on the cushion, head propped up on her knees, arms wrapped around her legs.

"Are you leaving already?" he asked, preparing to rise and show her out in her most gentlemanly fashion. "Surely not without another cup of Sirius' finest tea?" he joked and she shook her head.

"No no, my dear cousin need not fret, and neither had you," she added indicating that he should sit down. "I'm just running upstairs. I think I left a few things from when I last stayed over and I could do with getting them back. I'll be back in a second," she turned and gave him one of her most beaming smiles before walking off.

Remus grinned at her retreating back. He couldn't help himself. She was just so infectious. As worrying as he found it all, he should probably stop pretending that he was just harbouring a silly little crush that was totally natural if you spent a certain amount of time with a person. She was on his mind constantly and he couldn't help but think that everything she said and did was perfect Tonks – nothing was ever out of place. Even when she stumbled or knocked a candle over or accidentally let a swear word slip and she blushed and apologised profusely, in Remus' eyes she could do no wrong. Yet the way she viewed herself was often most critical. Despite her devil may care attitude with her technicolour hair and her patched jeans she never seemed to give herself enough credit for being the bright, jovial individual she was.

"I'm arse over teakettle, me," were some of the first words she had ever said to him, having just toppled over his feet. "And if I'm not tripping over my own feet –"

" – or someone else's," he had joked, smiling at her to show he harboured no ill feelings over the bruises that were undoubtedly blooming under the cover of his socks and shoes. She gave him an apologetic look before continuing,

"If I'm not tripping over my own feet, then I'm always putting my foot in it with what I say," she told him cheerfully as he directed her to the kitchen for the Order meeting. "Some days this," she pointed to her forehead, "just isn't as quick as this," she touched a finger to her lips giving Remus a view of a bright yellow fingernail, a perfect prototype for the other nine.

He had assured her that he didn't believe her although this was no more than social etiquette. Having never met her before, he had no idea if she was being accurate or not.

However, this soon became evident when she learnt of his lycanthropy. In her genuine eagerness to assure him that his being a werewolf was of little consequence to her, she asked questions and spoke in a way that, had Remus been conversing with anyone else, he would have taken with more than a little anger. But this was Tonks and, as he quickly learnt, it was impossible to dislike Tonks. Nothing that she said or asked in those early days ever mattered to him and never had he been so open with another person. Not even the seemingly ever present bruises on his toes could disturb his happiness.

Meanwhile, Tonks pressed the door shut behind her as softly as possible, the last thing she needed now was to be the one to wake up dear Great Aunt Walburga. She cursed herself all the way along the hall as she made her way as stealthily as possible to the staircase.

'_Why on earth are you sat there grinning like an idiot? I bet you look really gawky and unattractive, not to mention bloody _obvious_.'_

She hated the idea that she was just sat there, fixed on his every word (as she secretly always was) with this silly permanent grin on her face so that she either looked like she wasn't listening to him or was listening a little too closely. She wanted to look refined and poised and ladylike. It was just that being around him made her smile all the time.

And it was this fact that she was...fond...of him that made her about ten times as clumsy as she normally was.

CRASH!

BOOM!

Distracted as she had been by a combination of her own internal chiding and the image of Remus' sandy blonde hair (which she was dying to prove was just as soft as she imagined) framing his strong cheek bones and amber eyes she had caught her foot on the bottom step and twisted her ankle. She swore at the sharp twinge of pain and stumbled backwards, falling most ungracefully onto her arse and accidentally catching that wretched umbrella stand. Being empty and, henceforth, hollow, it rolled noisily all the way across the hall, coming to impact the damp patch of wall right beneath Walburga's portrait with a terrible, resounding boom.

When did a single Order member ever use an umbrella? Couldn't they just dump the sodding –

"SCOURGE OF THE EARTH, HALF BLOODS, MUDBLOODS AND FREAK SHOWS, HALF BREEDS AND BLOOD TRAITERS, THEY ALL COME TO MOCK THE MOST ANCIENT AND NOBLE HOUSE OF BLACK," so began Walburga's litany, causing Tonks to wince and scrabble around in the dark for the wand that had come flying out of her back pocket when she fell (mercifully refraining from igniting its mistresses buttock).

"AND WHERE IS HE? THAT THORN IN MY FLESH? THE ONE WHOSE CRIMES AGAINST THIS FAMILY ARE WORSE THAN ANY OTHER'S. THE ONE WHO BROKE MY HEART BY FRATERNISING WITH WEREWOLVES AND MUDBLOODS, WHERE IS HE NOW?"

Tonks could only assume Walburga Black was referring to her last remaining son, Sirius, but was spared both the displeasure of finding out and of silencing her herself when Remus came hurrying out of the living room, nearly broke his back when his left foot rolled precariously over her wand and almost sent him flying but had otherwise silenced and shrouded the gruesome portrait without further mishap.

Squinting in the gloom, she looked up at Remus, furiously trying to vanish the gauzy wisps of red that were skirting across her cheeks. She thought he was probably despairing, wondering what on earth it would take to prevent Tonks from causing an accident and setting that blasted painting off at least once a day, or perhaps asking himself how much worse Tonks could get. Maybe he was embarrassed by _and_ for her or perhaps he was downright bored of having to get her out of one situation or another.

But, she needn't have worried, for when her eyes managed to adjust enough, she saw that he was laughing. Great, bubbling chuckles were rising inside him but, perhaps so that she would not think he was laughing _at_ her or being vindictive, he was biting his cheeks together so that his whole body was shaking slightly with silent laughter.

"Oh yeah, very funny. Let's all laugh at the resident klutz while she's sat in a nest of dust and Merlin knows what, with no thought to asking if she's hurt or to helping her up," she shot at him, but she was smiling as she said it.

"Oh but Nymphadora," Remus began, unable to stop himself from laughing openly now. "I've learnt by now that you rarely hurt yourself when you fall. You can scarcely afford to get seriously injured every time you fall over, so your body's just sort of adapted," he said and although his voice was kind and innocent, his eyes were sparkling with mischievous, Marauder humour and banter. "Besides, there's always a telltale sign if you've hurt yourself,"

"Oh and what's that then, know it all?" she began patting the dust off her black jeans and purple and rose tie-dyed shirt, sending clouds of dust up into Remus' face, causing him to sneeze. "Oh sorry," she began patting harder to ensure that he was positively engulfed in the stuff "I am getting you with the dust, there?"

"If I didn't know better, I'd say you were hinting at the poor old werewolf with the bad back to bend down and pull you to your feet."

At this though, he bent swiftly down, showing no signs of discomfort anywhere, least of all his back, and helped her into a standing position.

Perhaps it was that head rushing sensation as she got up much too quickly, or the shock of the fall or the ringing in her ears from the deafening screeches from Mrs. Black but she couldn't help but notice how close his face was to hers. Unnecessarily so, for someone just lending a kindly hand to a friend in need.

"It's the swearing, by the way," Remus said with a devilish grin.

"I beg your pardon!"

"The telltale sign. When you've hurt yourself,"

"Git." She hit him on the shoulder, and in doing so realised that they had not moved from the position they had risen in, their bodies close together, his arms around her own, hands latched onto her elbows, tucked in at her hips, his long, gentle fingers splayed onto her back. She looked straight at him and thought she sensed his head craning towards hers, his eyes showing the first signs of flickering shut, his lips trying to get closer to hers.

"Yes, I've always thought so too," said a voice from the kitchen and the spell was broken, Remus had released her and jumped away as though she had hit him with a Flagrante Curse. Sirius was standing in the doorway a mischievous grin on his thin face, his wand held out before him as he shepherded three steaming tea cups in front of him.

He squeezed past them as they both looked anywhere but at Sirius or each other.

"Coming back into the living room? Or shall I just leave you like that all night?"

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><p><strong>AN: Thanks for reading, I'll have the final chapter up as soon as I can. **


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